


march

by orphan_account



Series: July Prompts [5]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:07:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25107454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Rex shines so brightly that ithurts, that when Cody’s with him, it makes something insidehimflicker, too. Rex makes him feel alive. And even when he’s covered in blood and dirt and choking on the stench of burnt flesh, he somehow keeps going, because Rex is something to come back to, someone who needs and is needed in return.But Cody can’t keep going, now.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/CT-7567 | Rex
Series: July Prompts [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812328
Comments: 11
Kudos: 73





	march

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #5: Bright, Cody/Rex

Cody doesn’t think he’ll ever tire of being a soldier.

It’s all he’s ever known, the only thing he’s confident in, but sometimes, when he’s all alone and he’s staring down at his datapad and signing a report ‘ _CC-2224_ ’ for the hundredth time, he’s so fucking tired. He wonders if he’ll have the strength to get up in the morning, wonders if he can keep going and marching and saluting and _bleeding_.

He does, of course he does, because his body doesn’t so often fail him like his mind does, isn’t as faulty as his thoughts tend to be, and he’s always pulling himself out of his bunk to do it all over again.

_Every. Single. Day._

But Rex...

Rex shines so brightly that it _hurts_ , that when Cody’s with him, it makes something inside _him_ flicker, too. Rex makes him feel alive. And even when he’s covered in blood and dirt and choking on the stench of burnt flesh, he somehow keeps going, because Rex is something to come back to, someone who needs and is needed in return.

But Cody can’t keep going, now.

Instead he’s sucking wind on a burning battlefield waiting for the medics to cart him off, wishing for all the world that he didn’t have to die on his Decanting Day, and he’s- he’s laying on someone, at least he thinks he is, a corpse, and he wants to move but can’t force his limbs to cooperate.

There’s worse ways to go, he supposes, because he’s not really in pain, just a faint pressure in his chest that builds and builds. It’s cold, though, cold and lonely, and he licks his dry, cracked lips and coughs so hard that his whole body jolts upwards.

He can see the reinforcements flooding in, troopers shouting orders and curses and-

Blue. Their armor was 501st blue, spreading and picking their way across the bodies of the 212th that littered the ground, and Cody finally lets himself relax.

He’s done. He did all he could, fought his hardest. He can rest.

He’s just closed his eyes, let the feeling of weightlessness drift over him when something slams into his side and presses on his chest-plate.

Cody’s eyes fly open, hands darting up to hover protectively over his helmeted face, knowing full well that it wouldn’t actually do anything, but his hands are caught surprisingly gently, and he catches sight of mismatched gauntlets- _his 212th gold faded, painted blue to be inconspicuous, but Rex had left a single stripe of the original gold down the middle-_ before he’s letting out a hitched breath.

Rex takes his helmet off with one hand, struggling with Cody’s armor with the other, panic and terror shining in his eyes. “Cody-“

“Rex.” His voice comes out barely above a whisper, his helmet picking it up as a throaty rasp, and Rex is working his helmet off for him quickly.

“Hang on, I can- I’ll get Kix. Just hang on for me, okay?”

With his helmet off, he realizes just how blurry his vision is, and he reaches up a shaky hand to wrap around his captain’s neck to drag him closer. It’s only when their foreheads meet that he can finally see him, can see the tears of denial in Rex’s eyes, can feel how hard the other trooper was trembling.

“Cody-“ Rex’s voice broke, and his eyes squeezed shut as if in pain.

Cody goes to laugh, but it comes out a gasp, blood bubbling past his lips. “Don’t cry.” He’s not worth crying over. He’s just one soldier, one commander.

“Then don’t leave me.” Rex suddenly says, quick and terrified, his hold on him tightening. “Don’t- Don’t make me say your name tonight.”

Cody’s eyes slip closed, and he’s just- he’s just tired, he’s just going to rest and then he’ll get back up, he’ll take Rex to 79’s and drink too much, he’ll stumble back to his- _their_ quarters and sleep it off with chaste kisses and warm hands, and he’ll wake up the next day just in time to see Obi-Wan’s amused grin and suggestive wink. “Sorry,” Comes out before he can stop it, and Rex pulls away to claw at his chest-plate.

“No, no no no, you _kriffing shabuir_ , you _karking_ \- you-“ The chest-plate comes away with a wet squelch, and Rex’s sudden hitched breath tells him everything he needs to know. “Cody...”

“I know.”

When he opens his eyes, this time, it’s- Bright. He’d never believed the ‘when you die you see a light’ bullshit was true, but now it seems as if he’d been wrong. Or maybe it’s just Rex, still piercing into his existence and remaining steady where he is broken, Cody can’t be sure, and he lets them fall closed again with a long exhale.

Rex makes a low noise. “Please no.”

“ _Rex_.” The effort of speaking drains him, and he struggles to pull in another breath from the invisible weight crushing him down. “ _Ni_ -“ His chest refuses to rise again, and he _tries_ , because he needs Rex to know, needs him to understand, and just before he fades, he swears he can hear him finish it for him.

“ _Ni kar’tayli gar darasuum, ner al’verde_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ni kar’tayli gar darasuum- I love you
> 
> ner al’verde- my commander
> 
> holy shit i did NOT intend for this to be depressing and have Cody die, or at least have _Cody_ be the one to die, but i mean. here we are. and you’re still here so you must not be too mad. lmao anyways, thank you for reading! have an a amazing day!!


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